World Bank delays vote on $500 million loan for Tanzania after activist letter on ban on pregnant schoolgirls

The World Bank has postponed its decision to lend Tanzania 500 million dollas following pressure from civil activists.

The loan had divided opinion in Tanzania over plans to use part of it to offer alternative education to teenage mothers.

Report says, pregnant schoolgirls are barred from returning to school after giving birth except they pursue other forms of education like vocational training.

The World Bank had announced that the loan is intended to help such girls access alternative education pathways.

But Tanzanian activists wrote to the bank, arguing that approving the loan would be endorsing the discriminatory policy of keeping pregnant girls away from schools.